Nepal Mourns Slain Leader

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Nepal Mourns Slain Leader

KATMANDU, Nepal – Hundreds of thousands of people tossed flowers, wailed and prayed Saturday night in bidding farewell to slain King Birendra and seven other members of the royal family.

The outpouring of sadness came during a time of political instability and appeared likely to become another thorn for the beleaguered elected government.

"Long live our king! Our king and our nation is dearer to us than our lives!" shouted the sea of people that followed the funeral procession to the holiest shrine in this Himalayan kingdom where the bodies were cremated.

Crown Prince Dipendra, who official sources said shot his parents and six other relatives to death late Friday before turning the gun on himself, was reported clinically dead but being kept breathing by a respirator.

The rampage, which also wounded three people, apparently erupted after Dipendra's mother, Queen Aiswarya, objected to the prince's intended bride, a senior military officer said.

The government State Council, which oversees royal matters in Nepal, named Dipendra, as crown prince, to succeed his father. But his uncle, Prince Gyanendra, whose wife was among the wounded, was named acting king. Gyanendra would become king if Dipendra dies.

A grim Gyanendra, dressed in military white, led the funeral procession, which got under way at sunset and was broadcast on state television.

Wrapped in red cloth, the bodies of the king and queen, their daughter and a son were placed on bamboo and bronze palanquins and carried on the shoulders of Brahmin priests clad in white vests and loin cloths.

The procession marched 8 miles from the military hospital to the Pashupatinath temple on the banks of the Bagmati River, followed by throngs of grieving citizens.

At the temple, the bodies were laid on pyres of sweet-smelling sandalwood. A little-known cousin, Deepak Bikram Shah, lighted the pyres of the king and queen, while Brahmin priests set fire to the other pyres.

The ashes were to be scattered along the holy river. Hindus in Nepal must be cremated within 24 hours of their deaths.

Although a popular uprising in 1990 stripped Birendra of his absolute powers and installed parliamentary democracy, the royal family remained widely popular.

The soft-spoken king won hearts with frequent visits to rural areas, where he patiently listened to the problems of villagers. Queen Aiswarya was more aloof but was known for her beauty. The king's brother, Prince Gyanendra, also kept out of the limelight but is respected for his conservation work in this starkly beautiful, but poor kingdom.

"Shocking is an understatement, we have been orphaned by this loss," said Janardan Sharma, a vegetable vendor in Katmandu, a city of 1.5 million people.

There were signs the palace massacre would aggravate public unhappiness with Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala's government, which already was under attack over allegations of a bribery scandal and its failure to quell a Maoist insurgency.

Many mourners insisted Dipendra could not have killed his parents and voiced suspicions the government was involved. Groups of angry youths yelled accusations that the government conspired against the royal family.

Near the prime minister's office, police used clubs to disperse a mob of about 1,000 people who hurled stones and shouted slogans against Koirala.

The prime minister sought to calm the situation by announcing that the government would thoroughly investigate the killings. Deputy Prime Minister Ram Chandra Paudel, who called the killings "a national tragedy," said the government had ruled out any involvement by Maoist rebels who have been trying to oust the monarchy.

The government angered some people by waiting until Saturday afternoon before making a formal announcement about the deaths and acting king.

In its formal announcement of the deaths, the government did not offer details of what happened Friday night at the Narayanhiti Royal Palace.

Government and military officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the 29-year-old Dipendra shot all immediate members of the royal family starting around 10:40 p.m.

The dead included Birendra, 55; the queen, 51; their son Prince Nirajan, 22; and daughter, Princess Shruti, 24, who had two daughters.

The State Council said the others killed were Princess Sharada Shah and Princess Shanti Singh, both sisters of the slain king; Kumar Khadga Bikram Shah, Sharada's husband; and Princess Jayanti Shah, a cousin to the late king.

The wounded were Gorakh Bikram, Shruti's husband; Komal Shah, Gyanendra's wife; and Prince Dhirendra, the king's youngest brother. They were reported in stable condition at the military hospital.